Waging War | The Amber Duology #1

34 | Unnecessarily Close

Skylor groaned in frustration for the umpteenth time that day, she could almost feel the annoyance of her fellow trainees as she continued to struggle with her powers.

The task had been simple. Follow the trail of rope that Morro had laid out and cover it with fire. However, he never said it was easy, not when he knew that she couldn't even light a single matchstick all by herself or concentrate on her emotions.

In Skylor's defense, she was trying. If only trying would set the rope on fire and she would be done with the task.

"Come on, Sky. Just like what Kai taught you." She shook her hands and readied herself once more, extending her arms in the proper position and focusing all her energy on the thought of creating a fire.

Emotions. Happy thoughts maybe? She tried to think of her mother, the few moments she could still remember from her childhood but nothing happened. Try thinking of Nya. She had had plenty of good memories with her best friend, most recently was the excitement they shared over her new found calling as an engineer.

A small spark of flame appeared on her palm and Skylor couldn't help but smile. Finally. She let out a satisfied sigh only for the fire to disappear.

"No! No, no, no, no!" As her frustration grew, so did her powers.

A burst of orange shot from her hand and set the whole rope on fire. Skylor yelped in surprise, no matter how many times she's seen it, there was still a part of her that couldn't understand nor believe that she was truly capable of this.

The heavy steps and clinking of metal against metal filled her ears as her eyes trained themselves on the rope. Skylor didn't need to turn her head to know exactly who was approaching her.

"I get it, I need more control." She spoke with a heavy sigh, already tired of hearing the same lesson for the fifth time that day. "If you could just put out the fire, I can try again."

"I think you have the wrong person." Her head perked up, that wasn't Morro.

With a quick pivot of her feet, Skylor was more surprised to find her drill instructor standing in front of her. The girl could swear she heard the voice of someone else, or perhaps it was just a figment of her imagination after being rendered mute with Morro's nagging.

"What you need is to not blindly follow his instructions." The same voice came out of the mouth of her supposed drill instructor. 

Before Skylor could even consider the fact that she was hallucinating, a ripple flowed through Morro's body until the only person left was Chamille. 

"Skylor, right?"

The girl could only nod, this day was filled with surprises. "Chamille, the elemental master of Form." She recalled, having seen her a few times already. "Won't you get in trouble for taking the shape of a superior?"

"I might." Chamille crossed her arms with a smile. "But it's not like he'll catch me." She shot her a wink and gestured to the still flaming rope beside her. "What did he tell you?"

Skylor followed her gaze with a disappointed sigh, already kicking the sand in the direction of the fire to put it out herself. "My powers are controlled by my emotions. The stronger it is, the better control I will have."

"And did he ever tell you that it doesn't always have to be negative thoughts?"

It seemed like Morro knew much more than he let on, or said.

"No. He didn't." Skylor shook her head, how come Kai never mentioned that either? Maybe he's fueled with negative emotion. It was possible. And she had only ever seen Kai smile around his sister, perhaps he lacked happy memories in general.